The Mega Powers
The Mega Powers were a tag team in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW). The Mega Powers consisted of Hulk Hogan, and "Macho Man" Randy Savage with Miss Elizabeth (at the time Randy's wife, though portrayed on-screen as his girlfriend) as their valet. History World Wrestling Federation (1988-1989) The alliance between Hogan and Savage began at the September 23, 1987 taping of WWF Saturday Night's Main Event (which aired October 3). Savage was in the middle of a face turn when he sought to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship from The Honky Tonk Man. When Savage hit his Flying Elbow Drop finisher on Honky Tonk for the pin, The Hart Foundation (who at the time were heels, all three managed by Jimmy Hart) came in and attacked Savage, getting Honky Tonk disqualified. All three wrestlers attacked Savage brutally. When Honky Tonk shoved Miss Elizabeth, who was trying to stop them, she ran away to the backstage area; meanwhile, Honky completed his attempt to break his guitar over Savage's head. Shortly afterward, Elizabeth returned with Savage's former rival Hulk Hogan, at the time WWF Champion, who came and saved Savage from the assault. Afterwards, Savage extended his hand in friendship to Hogan, who accepted and the three paraded around the ring with their hands ajoined. Their alliance solidified Savage's face turn, which had been brewing for weeks as fan support grew for him. Later that night, Hogan stated that the combination of "Hulkamania" and "Macho Madness" may become the most powerful force in WWF history. Formation (1988) The Mega Powers officially formed as a tag team at WrestleMania IV, after Hogan helped Savage win the WWF Championship in a 14-man tournament. The tournament was made after Hogan lost the belt to André the Giant at The Main Event on February 5, 1988. Andre promptly sold the belt to "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase, causing WWF President Jack Tunney to strip André of the belt. Hogan and André were both given byes in the first round of the tournament, fought to a double-disqualification in the quarterfinals. This had the side effect of giving Ted DiBiase a bye in the semifinals. Ultimately, Savage and DiBiase met in the final match of the tournament. The "Million Dollar Man" did all that he could to take out Savage (including the constant interference of Andre, who was acting as Dibiase's second for this match) but he couldn't keep him down. Savage eventually went to Elizabeth, whispering something to her. She ran backstage, as the fans were trying to figure out what was going on. A few minutes later, Elizabeth reemerged with Hogan. André and DiBiase seemed shocked by the turn of events. Hogan got revenge on DiBiase by hitting him in the back with a steel chair while André had distracted the referee by preventing Savage from getting to the ropes while locked in DiBiase's Million Dollar Dream sleeper hold. Savage was able to hit his famous Flying Elbow Drop and got the three count. After the match, they celebrated as a group. A few months later, with Hogan on leave of absence from the WWF and Savage feuding with Dibiase over the title. DiBiase and André attacked Savage 2-on-1 during an interview segment, prompting Savage to challenge the two to a tag team match versus him and the partner of his choosing, which was accepted. Savage then revealed that his partner would be the returning Hogan. They let all wrestling fans know that they have become The Mega Powers and that they would meet André and DiBiase at SummerSlam. Tag team debut (1988) Their debut match as a tag team was at SummerSlam in 1988. They went against André the Giant & "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase in a match billed as "The Mega Powers versus the Mega Bucks". Jesse "The Body" Ventura, a longtime supporter of Savage's but a longtime adversary of Hogan's, served as referee for this match. The match didn't go as planned for the Mega Bucks. Elizabeth exposed her assets in skimpy panties after stripping off her skirt to the heels, resulting in the Mega Powers coming back to win the match. Ventura counted but stopped at two because he hesitated, so Savage forced the three-count. Feuding with The Twin Towers/Breakup (1988-1989) After SummerSlam, The Mega Powers were on top of the wrestling world. However, the two had an uneasy relationship, particularly when it became obvious Hogan would act friendly and/or overprotective beyond reason toward Elizabeth. On two occasions on Saturday Night's Main Event, Hogan was insistent on Elizabeth appearing at ringside for his matches versus King Haku and Akeem for "extra inspiration." In the latter instance, Elizabeth's safety was endangered by Akeem and his allies, Slick and The Big Boss Man when Big Boss Man grabbed Elizabeth and placed her in handcuffs; before Big Boss Man could use his nightstick to strike Elizabeth, Savage ran out and made the save. While Savage showed concern for Elizabeth, he disregarded Hogan (who was still reeling from being attacked by the heels). At the 1988 Survivor Series, Hogan and Savage captained a team that faced a five-member squad headed by Big Boss Man and Akeem (whom by now were being billed as the Twin Towers). Hogan and Savage eventually won the match (last eliminating Haku; Big Boss Man and Akeem had been counted out and disqualified, respectively); during the post-match posing, Hogan again began acting friendly toward Elizabeth, angering Savage. In a post-match interview, pro-heel commentator Ventura interviewed Savage, playing up Savage's growing anger regarding Hogan's behavior toward Elizabeth. However, Elizabeth was not the only reason Hogan and Savage had issues with each other during their stint as a team. At the 1989 Royal Rumble, Hogan accidentally eliminated Savage in the Royal Rumble match when he went to put out Bad News Brown. The two appeared to make amends at the behest of their manager, but Savage was clearly upset after the event (which was ultimately won by Big John Studd). Things came to a full boil on NBC's prime-time special, The Main Event (aired February 3 1989), when the two wrestled The Twin Towers. During the match, Akeem threw Savage out of the ring. Savage was thrown onto Elizabeth, knocking her unconscious. Hogan saw what happened and carried Elizabeth from the ring to the medical area. When Elizabeth was revived, she implored a distraught Hogan to return to the ring to help Savage, who had been left to fight the two gargantuans on his own for several minutes. Hogan eventually called for the tag, but Savage - who mounted a rally - slapped Hogan in the face. He took his World Title belt, and stormed back to the locker room. Hulk Hogan defeated The Twin Towers by himself. After the match, Hogan went to check on Elizabeth. Macho Man was back there too, who was caught in mid-tirade yelling to Elizabeth that as world champion he was tired of taking a backseat to both Hogan and Elizabeth in the Megapower pecking order. Upon Hogan's arrival, Savage accused Hogan of trying to steal Elizabeth from him. Hogan implored Elizabeth to try and talk some sense into him. Then out of nowhere, Savage attacked him by hitting him in the face with the title belt, sealing the end to their partnership and beginning their feud. WrestleMania V: The Mega Powers explode (1989) Hogan's first response to Savage's actions was to challenge him at WrestleMania for the WWF Title, which Savage eventually accepted. Most of the leadup to the match involved two things: the first being Savage showing (heavily edited and out of context) footage to prove that Hogan "lusted after" Elizabeth, after which Hogan would respond by showing the footage in its proper context and with explanation and the second was the question of whose corner would Elizabeth be in. On April 2 1989, Hulk Hogan and "Macho Man" Randy Savage, decided to settle the score at WrestleMania V in Atlantic City for the WWF Championship. Elizabeth would be involved in the match but declared herself to be in a neutral corner, which ended with her being ejected from ringside after too many complications were caused by her attempting to assist both men at different points in the match. Hogan and Savage were going blow for blow in this title match, but Hogan would eventually prevail after kicking out of a Macho Man Elbow drop, Hulking Up, and hitting the Leg Drop to become World Wrestling Federation Champion for the 2nd time. The two would continue their feud in the months following WrestleMania. Savage would replace Elizabeth with a new manager, Sensational Sherri and align himself with Hogan's monstrous co-star from the movie No Holds Barred, Zeus (actor Tom Lister, Jr. in-character as his movie character). This extension of the angle would culminate at SummerSlam 89 when Hogan and Beefcake (with a return appearance by Elizabeth) would defeat Savage and Zeus in the main event and finalized after a cage match between the two teams during a pay-per-view event entitled No Holds Barred: The Match, The Movie. Savage and Hogan would meet one last time for a WrestleMania V rematch on the February 23, 1990 edition The Main Event with Heavyweight Boxing Champion James "Buster" Douglas as the guest referee. Hogan would come out victorious yet again with Savage knocked out by Douglas post-match. World Championship Wrestling (1994-2000) Reunion (1995-1996) After Hogan and Savage patched up their real life differences, Hogan talked WCW president Eric Bischoff into signing Savage. Initially called "The Monster Maniacs" (presumably for legal reasons), Hogan and Savage teamed on January 25, 1995 at Clash of the Champions to battle Kevin Sullivan and The Butcher. On March 24, 1996 at WCW Uncensored, The Mega Powers reunited to take on eight opponents in a Doomsday Cage Match. The opponents were "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Kevin Sullivan, "The Total Package" Lex Luger, The Faces of Fear (The Barbarian & Meng), Z Gangsta (formerly known as Zeus), and The Ultimate Solution. They were known as The Alliance to End Hulkamania. At Clash of the Champions on January 23, 1996 from Las Vegas, Nevada, the duo lost to Ric Flair and The Giant. Breakup (1996) The team broke up again at Bash at the Beach on July 7, 1996. This time, it was Hogan who turned heel. Hogan came out seemingly to save Savage and Sting during their match with The Outsiders (Scott Hall and Kevin Nash) Hogan double-crossed Savage and Sting, dropping the leg on Savage three times, then forming the New World Order. WCW decided to work Hogan's and Savage's old real life feud into the storyline, going as far as having Hogan state that if Savage is going to accuse him of his divorce from Elizabeth, then he "doesn't need someone as ungrateful as 'The Nacho Man' as a friend." Later that year, the former friends faced off at WCW Halloween Havoc for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Savage almost had Hogan beat, but thanks to Ted DiBiase and the Giant, Hogan retained the title. nWo (1997-1998) After losing to Hogan at Halloween Havoc 1996, Savage went on hiatus. He returned to WCW in January 1997, joining Sting in the rafters, showing no alliance to either WCW or the nWo for a while. At SuperBrawl 1997, Savage appeared ringside for the match between Hogan and Rowdy Roddy Piper. Savage turned heel by slipping Hogan a pair of brass knuckles when the referee's back was turned. Hogan used the weapon en route to his very first pinfall victory over Piper, and after the match, Hogan and Savage brutalized Piper together. The pair would team often, sometimes with the Outsiders, in tag matches. However, in late 1997, after Hogan lost the WCW World Heavyweight Championship to Sting, friction popped up between Savage and Hogan again, this time over who the leader of the nWo was. The feud came to a fever pitch when Savage took the title from Sting, only to have Hogan take it from him the next night. After that, the nWo split into two factions, with Hogan (nWo Hollywood) and Savage (nWo Wolfpac) on separate sides. This also split up the Outsiders, with Nash taking Savage's side and Hall taking Hogan's side. Millionaire's Club (2000) In 2000, Hogan and other legends formed the WCW faction known as the Millionaire's Club. During one memorable brawl at the end of a television taping between the Club and their opponents, Savage suddenly ran out and lent the Club his aid, turning the tide and effectively becoming a member after tapping fists with Hogan once the fighting ended. Hogan and Savage had reverted to face status by this time. In wrestling *'Finishing move' **''Leg drop of doom'' (Running jumping leg drop) (Hogan) **Diving elbow drop (Savage) *'Favorite moves' **Atomic drop **Body slam **Clothesline *'Managers' **Miss Elizabeth Championships and accomplishments *'Pro Wrestling Illustrated' **The Mega Powers were ranked by Pro Wrestling Illustrated at # 57 of the 100 best tag teams during the "PWI Years" in 2003. *'World Wrestling Federation' **WWF Championship (1 times) - Savage *World Championship Wrestling **WCW World Heavyweight Championship (1 times) - Hogan External links *The Mega Powers Profile * Profile Category:World Wrestling Entertainment teams and stables Category:World Championship Wrestling teams and stables Category:1988 debuts Category:1989 disbandments Category:Teams and stables